Long-term EU budget: Parliament to demand safety net for beneficiaries in 2021
MEPs want the Commission to table a contingency plan to guarantee continuity of EU funding in case the next long-term EU budget is not ready on 1 January 2021.
Parliament will vote on a legislative initiative report requesting that the European Commission submits a proposal for an MFF (Multiannual Financial Framework) contingency plan by 15 June 2020.
The plan must take into account immediate social and economic consequences of the COVID-19 outbreak, the draft report says. The aim is to ensure continued funding for beneficiaries of EU programmes, be it citizens, regions, cities, farmers, universities or businesses, and to rule out any risk of the current MFF and programmes being discontinued or extended in a disorderly way. Lengthy discussions between member states have already delayed the process of establishing the next MFF 2021-2027. A revised MFF, including the COVID-19 recovery plan proposal, will be tabled by the Commission soon and kick off further discussions.
For additional information, please read last week’s press release on the vote in the Committee on Budgets.
Next steps
If the report is endorsed by a majority of Parliament’s component members, the Commission has to either submit a relevant proposal, or else must inform Parliament of the reasons why it will not do so, according to article 225 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the EU.
Upon her approval as Commission President by Parliament last July, Ursula von der Leyen pledged: “When this House, acting by majority of its Members, adopts Resolutions requesting the Commission to submit legislative proposals, I commit to responding with a legislative act in full respect of the proportionality, subsidiarity, and better law-making principles.”
Procedure: Legislative initiative
Vote: Wednesday/Thursday 13/14 May